'As an educational charity the Society aims to encourage an interest in Industrial Archaeology through lectures, outings and other meetings and by publishing the results of individual research through its Journal and other publications.'

'The Trevithick Society traces its beginning from 1935 when a small group of individuals formed the Cornish Engines Preservation Committee to acquire the Levant winding engine. The last of these mammoth relics of Cornwall's engineering achievements in the Victorian age were, at the time, finally being replaced and scrapped. In other parts of the country the preservation of such monuments had, generally, to wait another quarter-century or so. The far-sighted efforts of this group must now be seen as a pioneering landmark in Industrial Archaeology. In 1947 the Committee became a registered charity and changed its name to the Cornish Engines Preservation Society. In the ensuing years the CEPS acquired Taylor's 90-inch and Robinson's 80-inch pumping engines and Michell's 30-inch winding engine.

'In 1971 the Society combined with the Cornish Waterwheel Preservation Society (formed in 1970) and the name TREVITHICK SOCIETY was chosen in honour of Cornwall's greatest engineer, Richard Trevithick, a key figure in the development of high pressure steam and its application in engines for mining and transport use.'